Hawke's Bay Chess Club Inc.

The Fourth Hawke's Bay Rapid

Full Results

Lukey and Smith win Hawke's Bay Rapid

Stephen Lukey can perhaps thank his son for inspiring him to enter the Hawke's Bay Rapid and finish first equal with Bob Smith."I hadn't been playing much chess but my 11-year-old boy Bryce got interested in chess," Lukey explained. Discussing chess with his son made him feel like playing again himself.
The Hawke's Bay Rapid was the perfect opportunity as Lukey, a Christchurch lawyer, had business in Napier in the week after the tournament on February 7.
The competition was cut-throat: "I lost to Bob but I beat Scott Wastney and Bob lost to Scott," Lukey said. He and Smith ended up with 5.0 points out of 6, with Daniel Gong third on 4.5 and Wastney fourth on 4.0."The tournament was extremely well organised in really good premises," Lukey, a former New Zealand Rapid champion, added. "The A Grade was quite strong and every game was a tough game."
Asheesh Gautam from Fiji won the B Grade and the Under-15 section went to Ryan Winter, both scoring 5.5 out of 6.